Jack-O-Lantern Carving

This morning we started carving our big pumpkin in the classroom. We had already decided by popular majority yesterday on the shapes for the eyes, nose and mouth. The first thing we needed to do was to remove all the seeds and stringy bits from inside the pumpkin. We drew a circle on the pumpkin around the stalk and then the teachers cut a small hole with a knife. We then used a small saw which had lots of tiny teeth on it and didn’t feel sharp to cut the holes in the pumpkin. First we stuck our hands into the pumpkin and got out all the seeds. They felt all sticky and slimy and we soon wanted to wash our hands. Then we cut the triangular eyes and then the arched nose. To cut the mouth we had to make lots of smaller cuts so that the teeth showed. It looks really good and we put it up on the shelf so that we could all see it. On the small table in the play area Eito and Riko helped cut the last pieces of the big material ghost we started last week. This was quite easy as we just needed to cut small triangles into the edge of a piece of netting. We then added this netting to the main ghost. Chiharu was also with us this morning and completed the buds class piñata. We then helped fill the piñata with lots of special gifts for our friends down there. On the carpet we made a big tower with the wooden Kapla blocks together. We all took turns and used all the pieces. Ethan, Ryan and Jennifer all made a beautiful Halloween picture on black paper with colored chalk on the main table. We also had out some blue play-dough with lots of black and orange beads. Using this Ava made a fish and Adam made a black eyed ghost. After snack we headed for the park and all of us played ‘What’s the time Mr. Wolf’? We really enjoy this game as it means we get to run a lot. When we came back it was time for Ethan’s ‘Show and Tell’. He had a huge box to show us and inside were lots of things from when he was a baby including baby shoes, a bib, socks, a few pictures he had made and letter and reply from Santa Claus. He did a wonderful job telling us where he got these things and how old he was when he made the pictures. Well done Ethan!! In circle time we had lots of spare orange tissue paper flowers from making the piñatas to decorate the room. We used blue-tack and chose where we wanted to put the flowers up. They look great, thank you Chiaharu. We then got the Jack-O-Lantern, turned off the lights and put an LED candle inside it which flickers and makes it look really scary. Finally the teachers showed us how to make a black bat with origami paper which we tried ourselves after nap time. The big ghost is now hanging from the ceiling and looks really good. Please take a look if you get a moment. Thanks Have a great afternoon. All our love, Darren and Ayaka.